Re: You'll Eat This But Won't Eat That

My son's the quirky one here...loves ketchup (on EVERYTHING) and spaghetti sauce, but rarely eats tomato soup and never eats tomatoes. He refuses to eat mushrooms. But now I have to buy sliced mozzarella at the deli for his sandwiches, and fresh mozzarella doesn't stand a chance in the house...he eats it like he eats grapes. He loves guacamole, but refuses to eat avocados. And he's now into mangoes.

My issues are all related to my health issues...I can't eat raw onions, but I can eat them if I cook them. I can't eat raw peppers at all, and I can't eat large slices of cooked peppers, but I can eat them if they're diced in chili and spaghetti sauce. I can't drink milk or eat yogurt or ice cream, but I can eat cheese.

Re: You'll Eat This But Won't Eat That

I'm allergic to fish, but fine with shrimp and lobster. But not scallops, oysters, or mussels.

I love raw carrots and peas, but dislike them cooked.

I like chocolate, but don't like chocolate cake. (But brownies are okay IF they're thin, dense, and chewy — not cake-y.)

I like iced coffee slightly sweetened, but can't stand hot coffee sweetened. Tea? Whether hot or cold, I won't drink it sweetened. Lemon yes; sugar no. Honey only if I'm drinking it to fight laryngitis (because for some reason, it brings my voice back just long enough for a tutoring session).

Re: You'll Eat This But Won't Eat That

I love spaghetti sauce but won't eat tomatoes (diced, sliced, etc). If a restaurant accidentally puts a tomato on a sandwich I can't pick if off if it leaves behind any seeds because it grosses me out.

I love salsa but won't put any of the chunky stuff on the tortilla chips.

Re: You'll Eat This But Won't Eat That

I had to laugh tonight. I made a "sorta salad"...tomatoes, avocado, cukes, fresh mozzarella (balsamic vinegar and oil). I only ate about half of what I made, so I left the other half for my husband and son. When I went in the kitchen later, I discovered my son had eaten the cukes and mozzarella (and left behind the avocado and tomatoes).

Re: You'll Eat This But Won't Eat That

Ooh, I LOVE this!

I love most things chocolate/chocolate flavored (not including dark, yeech) but I am picky about what I'll mix my chocolate with. Cookies, ice cream, caramel, yes. Peanut butter, mint, no even though I like both peanut butter and mint and can eat peanut butter, then chocolate no problem. Just not in the same candy.

I'm with y'all who like salsa, tomato soup, ketchup, tomato based sauces, but not fresh tomatos (diced/sliced/big enough chunks to identify) I think it's a texture thing. Similar to my issues with mushrooms and onions. Mushrooms have to be pureed and mixed with other flavors. Onions I can take if its minced very small. I can't do either in big chunks.

Here's one that drove my mother crazy while I was growing up-I hate all things beans/peas. Lima, black eyed, kidney, peas, whatever. But my favorite veg is green beans, and it drove my mom nuts because I loved to break open the pods, eat those, then eat the inside little 'beans'. She couldn't see the difference between those and other types of beans/peas.

I love red potatoes/idaho potatoes, but I refuse to touch sweet potatoes.

Love every kind of fish I've ever tasted, but I HATE shellfish.

I worked with a girl who ate her food in a circle around her plate. Didn't mind her food touching, but wouldn't return to one item after she'd finished another. For instance, we were at Cracker Barrel and she had fried chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, and macaroni. She finished all her potatoes before she moved on to the macaroni, finished all that before she started all the green beans, and finished all that before she started the chicken. She explained if she didn't finish an item before moving on to the next, she would never go back to the food she didn't finish.

I have another friend who used to be the pickiest eater I've ever met. She's a whole lot better now, but I got to see a lot of her food issues when we went on a trip with a group from school to Hawaii, New Zealand, and Australia. Among her issues then: wouldn't eat anything cooked in butter if she saw the butter during the cooking process (actually, this is still a bit of an issue for her. Something about the way it looks, which means hibatchi is a no-go) Wouldn't try the mahi mahi or the pig in Hawaii although she did eat the poi (not the best choice in adventurous eating) No duck at the Thai restaurant. No lamb in New Zealand, no emu or kangaroo in Australia. DID try the vegemite (again, she managed to try the worst of each culture, blech) The breakfast place we ate at in Hawaii was a buffet, had everything from American to Hawaiian to Asian foods, but she refused to try the roasts/noodles/other exotic stuff because it didn't seem like 'traditional breakfast' stuff. I think we hit 4 Hard Rock Cafes in three different countries because she didn't eat much deviating from chicken fingers and fries at the time. Like I said, she's a whole lot better now (spending a summer as an au pair in Spain pretty much cured most of her food phobias and got her trying just about everything) but it was definitely funny (and a little frustrating, trying to find places to eat) at the time.

I know taste buds change as we get older, but it's funny how some things we can't get over.